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SCARM v. 0.9.19 Released

The new version 0.9.19 of SCARM is ready! Download it form www.scarm.info.

Warning

Remember, that SCARM is still in beta stage of development and sometimes may not work as expected. Always create archives of your layouts and save changes in the files with incremental names (just in case) like “plan_1.scarm”, “plan_2.scarm”, and so on. Please report any bugs and/or unexpected error messages with a short explanation how, when and where in the program they occurs in the comments area below.

Some of the more important added/improved features and updates are listed below.

Added and improved functionality:
- Extendable track pieces (added in the corresponding libraries)
- Flex-tracks dimensions of each section are now displayed on the track in 2D mode
- Flex-tracks can now be edited after laying and fixing (select already placed flex-track, right-click over it close to one of the ends and choose “Reshape”)
- Flex-tracks can now be split in two parts at any position (select already placed flex-track, right-click over it at the desired position and choose “Split”)
- Zooming (with ‘+’ and ‘-’ keys) and moving (with arrow keys) is now working while modelling flex-tracks
- 45° & 90° lines snap function when creating Baseboard or Polygon figure (to activate it, hold Ctrl key while shaping)
- Zoom factor lock (in View > Scale menu) – useful when performing 1:1 full-size manual printouts

New “Edit” tab in the Settings window for:
- Global override of flex-tracks Minimum radius library presets (allowing increase of the min bending radius for better realism)
- Adjusting flex-tracks Limit angle (for transition from Straight to Curved section when shaping with the mouse)
- Setting of tracks joining tolerances (distance and angle) for auto-connecting of tracks with small gaps between them

Bugfixes:
- Fixed behavior of Selection By List window
- Fixed behavior when pressing Cancel button in Settings window
- Fixed behavior when tracks are placed with Drag&Drop on the drawing plot
- Improved resizing of Tracks & Objects Selection panel, which now remembers its width
- Fixed bug for correct displaying of figures in 3D, containing doubled control points, which are now automatically removed
- Many other small improvements and bugfixes

Tip

If “Check for Updates” feature in SCARM 0.9.18 reports that there is no newer version of the program, download the installer directly from the website. The old version info file may be cached on your PC and it will need some time that cache to expire. If the website also shows v. 0.9.18, press F5 key to refresh it.

And finally, several words about the new version.

This update is focused on flex-tracks and adds important functionality to them, allowing post editing and splitting to independent parts. Behind the scene, there is a lot of work done for the paths and roads feature, which is 90% ready. However, more programming is needed in order to allow paths, roads and intersections to be able to be as much complex and flexible like the real ones. Terrain shaping feature is also on the final stage, but the user interface for interacting with it is still under development. More and more users are asking about feature for custom libraries for storing of user-defined objects and I am starting to work over it. I am also preparing some updates in 3D interface and optimiza­tions in 3D rendering engine which will allow more precise and realistic images of virtual SCARM layouts. So, that is for now. I hope that you will like this release and from today I am starting to work over the next version

Request

If you like SCARM, share the info about it with your friends in the social network sites or post a link to www.scarm.info in your blog or your favorite railroad forum, so more and more model train enthusiasts and fans to know about it and to use it for free.

11 thoughts on “SCARM v. 0.9.19 Released”

“More and more users are asking about feature for custom libraries for storing of user-defined objects and I am starting to work over it.” … hmm or object importer from lightwave / 3DS? And user object editor not needed

I have noticed that in the latest version when drawing a base board you can no longer put one point on top of another. It was good to be able to do that when you were putting a hole in the centre of a baseboard.the line that went into the centre to make the hole was able to come back out on top of itself.I also used that to mark where the joints would be on a modular layout. Is this change intentional?

Yep. As I supposed, the fixing of one bug sometimes leads to another Anyway, I will rewrite the new procedure for removing doubled points in the baseboard to allow the holes again, because now it is not working correctly And new SCARM update will come much faster

First, congratulations for you efforts, I’ve downloaded your software and have been playing with it for a while, very useful. I was going to report the bug about the inability of laying out “donut” baseboards, but it has been already reported. The other bug is, when you use files saved in a previous version flex track will not connect correctly to each other – when you lay one arrow over the next, it shows green, but when you press Left-Click the arrows don’t disappear and the track doesn’t connect.

Sorry to disturb again. Trying to connect flextrack together, some times joiners refuse to join; some times, laying in one direction I get a straight track, in the other a very wide curve. And once, connecting two pieces moved the piece I was connecting from its position.

Check that flex-track that you want to connect and the other track have the same heights, assigned to the both connecting ends. If the heights are different, the join cannot be completed. Always try to connect from that direction, which produces remaining grey straight. Trying from the other direction will be impossible, because the angles will not be able to match.

I am in process of improving flex-tracks connectivity procedures to make it easier for the users with automatic shaping and connecting when moving the mouse over the desired joining location. However, this will take some time and will appear in the next updates of SCARM

Thanks for all the effort. The tracks are all on the same level, so I would suppose it’s a connectivity “bug”. Since you are working on flex track, you might just as well check that one. Another issue is that sometimes, when I lay a bit of straight track made of several separate pieces of flextrack, I get a zig-zag line (or a curve made of straight lines, which is worse) rather than one long straight.

A library suggestion for the future…Tillig HO mixed gauge track (HO/HOm and HO/HOe).

Another critical bug was found, related to the new setting for the user-defined minimum radius of the flex-tracks. Already saved files, containing flex tracks can be damaged if re-saved with this setting applied. DO NOT use user-defined flex-track radius in the settings, until the release of the new version today or tomorrow.